This is a slight departure from our usual topics as we look at an excellent new Chiang Mai initiative in the field of natural medicines and beauty treatments. Skin cream,  herbal shampoo, moisturiser, hair restorer (oops too late for that!)... have I  finally lost the plot? I'll admit that having (very tentatively and making sure no one we knew was watching us) entered the new store on Moonmuang Soi 6, I came out entirely convinced. I'd been hearing about the Arun Thai natural products for a while and you'll come across them in numerous guesthouses and stores throughout the city as well as Walking Street, but since we were walking past their new store and workshop near Somphet Market we decided to pop in.

Nice display with it too.

There are other similar producers about but what made it newsworthy for me was the range of products aimed specifically at travellers (ed: this isn't a sponsored post, by the way -- none of our posts are, ever). For instance, natural alternatives to the dreaded Imodium or whatever for upset stomachs, herbal creams for heat rashes and prickly heat, balms for rucksack strap irritations, even creams for fungal infections and of course mosquito repellents.

Done a trek so have you got something for heat rash, backpack sores, rotting feet!?

Now DEET is nasty stuff -- it's a highly potent insecticide (we read somewhere it was a component of the notorious Agent Orange), and spraying it on yourself is obviously bad for your skin apart from being bad for the environment. Yes, you may only give a quick squirt as you head off into the forest, but millions of tourists every year... well it soon mounts up, so any effective natural alternative has to be good.

Having tried Arun Thai's natural repellent out on various guinea pig mates, it does seem at least as effective as any commercial chemical version. Unlike many available natural repellents, Arun Thai's is not based on citronella which they point out is effective but only for a short time. Their version combines citronella with clove and basil oils but importantly the rarer, but very effective neem oil. Neem oil comes from the sadao leaf, which is a common Thai curry ingredient but also has medicinal properties that are perhaps not so well known.

The lab!

Anyway, this is all very interesting stuff and if you've just got back from a trek with sore legs, upset stomach, prickly heat, rotting feet, heat rash and sore shoulders, then you can find treatments for everything here; staff are helpful and speak English and the prices are reasonable.

Arun Thai
59/1 Moonmuang Soi 6 (the top end of the soi if you walk down from Somphet or directly opposite Blue House)
T: (053) 289 653

Tags: Moonmuang, mosquito repellent, Mosquitoes, natural medicines, tropical health

We have complained about downtown Chiang Mai's lack of parks before but there is a stretch of grass and trees that we inconsiderately overlooked, a very long stretch in fact -- nearly eight kilometres long -- which makes for an interesting and attractive hike without ever having to leave the city centre. We're talking of course about the strip of tree-lined parkland that borders the moat and frames the old town area.

The north moat looking south towards Prathu Chang Puak.

The old city walls don't quite make a square, being two kilometres each on the east and west sides and 1.8 kilometres on the other two sides, and they do of course have a busy three-lane road on either side. But there are at least 30 0r 40 metres of grass, trees and water between the two. (Indeed the most difficult part of our proposed walk is crossing the busy highway to actually get into the median strip.)

The inner moat road takes the following names on its east, south, west and north sides: Moonmuang, Bumrung Buri, Arak and Sri Phum respectively, and circulates in a anti-clockwise direction. The outer moat ring road is clockwise only and, again from east to north, has the names: Chaiyaphum, Rat Chiang Saen, Bunrueang and Manee Noparat. (Transliterations vary considerably.)

The reconstructed northwest bastion.

Regular causeways across the moat form two-way U-turns -- usually three or four on each side -- and there's a total of five old entrance gates (plus two footbridges): Tha Paeon the east, Chiang Mai and Suan Prung on the south side; the west has Suan Dok and the north side Chiang Puak.

The reason for a later addition of the fifth gate was apparently to allow the Queen Mother a convenient access into the city while she was busy supervising the construction of Wat Chedi Luang. The same gate, Suan Prung, was then later used for funeral processions so to this day is still considered an inauspicious gate by certain locals.

Much of the old wall and corner bastions were pulled down some time ago to provide bricks for the construction of the city but  extensive renovation including original bricks was carried out in the 1960s and again in the 1990s. Now most of the five gates and the four corner bastions are in reasonable condition and several stretches of wall still exist.

Now this could be done as a single hike but eight kilometres in this heat might be a bit much and you'd miss out the numerous interesting sites to be seen. We would propose to do one side at a time; perhaps say clockwise down and anti back for instance since there are plenty of sites to be seen. Apart from a proliferation of temples, you'll find markets, interesting shops, some spectacular trees, with luck some inner city bird-life, plenty of Chiang Mai's great cafes and bars and lots of general bustling street life.

Spectacular golden rain tree, on the north side.

Few people seem to have thought of this hike and the people I have dragged along have been more than pleasantly surprised; so coming up over the next few posts we'll be describing no less than four excellent inner city hikes. Stay tuned!

Tags: hiking, markets, Moonmuang, Tha Pae, walks

Wat Lok Molee is an attractive and often overlooked little temple that's recently received a facelift, and while not being one of Chiang Mai's most well known temples is well worth including on any temple tour of the downtown area.

Wat Lok Molee main worshipping hall.

If we grade wats by the number of photos we take in them, then Wat Lok Molee is at least a 30 -- pretty good by our standards -- not so much for the main viharn, pictured above, which is a fairly classic design, but for some of the oddities and curios we came across scattered around the small, interestingly cluttered grounds.

When visiting any of the city's temples (or anywhere else for that matter), it's always worth poking around in the corners or peeking behind things since that's where you often find the most interesting bits. (During our 30-minute visit we saw several foreign tourists whiz into the carpark, take a couple of shots of the main building, check out the principal Buddha and then shoot off five minutes later.)

For reference, here is the principal Buddha image in the spacious yet low-key, and pleasingly un-kitsch for a change, viharn.

Seated, gold Buddha.

Some interesting mosaics and reliefs adorn the hall's walls -- no gaudy murals in this one -- showing the eight different Buddha positions of the week. The one below is Wednesday morning (the Buddhist calender has six days plus two Wednesdays, morning and night).

Wednesday morning Buddha.

More intriguing still were the eclectic range of subsidiary statues and images to be found in various corners of the garden such as the Brahma below. (Well, it's officially Brahma but manages to combine aspects of Shiva -- the third eye -- as well as holding attributes more commonly associated with Vishnu.)

Brahma in the garden.

And continuing the Hindu theme we also came across this fun Ganesha shrine in another corner.

The Ganesha shrine.

Also fairly unusual, and we reckon pretty striking, was the shrine housing a sort of fusion image of the traditional Chinese goddess Guanyin or Kuan Yin with Lokesvara-type multi arms.

The goddess Guanyin, a bit of a handful?

In fact though she is not normally depicted in this way she is often considered to be the female incarnation of the Bodhisattva Lokesvara or Avolokesvara, so that kind of makes sense.

Lokesvara, Banteay Chmar, Cambodia.

The temple is thought to date to the 14th century though its origins are somewhat obscure. The viharn, which as we mentioned saw a major overhaul in recent times, and the large brick stupa were constructed in the early part of the 16th century by the Lanna king of the time, Phra Muang Kaew, and indeed the stupa now houses the ashes of both himself and his wife.

Viharn roof with chedi in background.

The above shows the upper part of the chedi while below is one of the Chinese-style guardian ceramic lions.

Somewhere inside lie the king's ashes.

If you get bored looking at the religious buildings and images then alternative offerings include wooden elephant statues ...

Odd, not very religious looking, wooden elephant.

... or a random old Mercedes displayed next to the monk's quarters.

Monk-mobile?

Perhaps of more interest is the aluminium workshop at the rear of the temple, next to the massage area, where craftsmen painstakingly hammer away at slabs of metal for weeks on end. A craftsman informed me that the upright relief seen partially at the rear left took him a year to finish. The piece he was working on in the photo is for a new door to the main viharn.

Fascinating stuff.

As we mentioned there is a massage area where you can be pummelled, or try the rather good and cheap coffee shop ...

Iced mocha -- 40 baht.

... or watch the birdlife?

Red-whiskered bulbul.

Wat Lok Molee is located on the north side of the moat road (exterior), down from the Chang Puak night market and close to Computer Plaza.

Tags: Brahma, Guanlin, Lanna, Lokesvara, Shiva, Wat Lok Molee

The Chiang Mai Hilltribe Handicraft Training Centre was established in 2007 by the Seventh Day Adventist Church to help train and provide income for education for women and girls from poor hilltribe families in northern Thailand. The making and sale of clothing, bags and accessories allows the women to earn money to help pay for their children's schooling as well as offering employment opportunities for the older students themselves during vacation periods.

The workshop and sales centre on Maneenoparat Road.

The Centre's blurb states that they employ Akha, Lisu, Lahu, Hmong, Karen, Yao and Khamu workers so you'd expect a pretty wide range of attire on offer. In fact apart from some Yao and Hmong jackets, none of the items are at all traditional and the themes seems to be an eclectic selection of crossover Western/hilltribe styles with classic, for example Hmong, patterns (lots of swirls and bright colours) decorating pencil cases, mobile phone holders, pillow cases and so on. It's fair enough since there's only so much commercial potential for Akha hats, and they've come up with some pleasing results.

Traditional Karen leopard skin pattern.

It is very much the same kind of product that you'll see in Chiang Mai's Walking Street Market, in Luang Prabang's Hilltribe Market, Sapa high street or increasingly in such places with no hilltribe connections at all, like Phnom Penh's Russian Market. In this case, however, you're buying straight from the makers and without any mark-up by intermediaries, and so at considerably lower prices. When we visited the shop items seemed so cheap we thought some of the tags were misprints! The shoulder bag pictured above, for example, was around $3 -- which just goes to show the mark-up some vendors elsewhere are adding. Needless to say, there's no bargaining here and all prices are marked.

It's also interesting to be able to see the products being made right there in the workshop across the entrance hall from the showroom, which you are free to visit as well.

Well produced catalogue.

They also have a professional catalogue, so are aiming perhaps primarily at the gross trade and indeed we reckon this not very well known outlet would be of interest to some of our European friends who like to stock up on cheap knick-knacks in Chiang Mai and other places to stock their stands when they do the rounds of European summer festivals and markets. We say not very well known since the location is -- while not exactly out of the way -- not an area you'd be likely to casually wander through. The workshop/showroom is situated at 248/1 Maneenoparat Road,  Tambon Sripum, which is the exterior moat road close to Wat Lok Molee and Computer Plaza, and right next door to the Seventh Day Adventist church itself. (See map.)

The workshop.

The centre is open Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:00 and if you have problems finding it here's a number -- though we doubt much English is spoken: (053) 287 047.

Tags: Akha, Chiang Mai's Hilltribe Handicraft Training Centre, karen, Khamu, Lahu, Lisu, Sapa, souvenirs, Yao

It would be an understatement to describe Chiang Mai's Rainforest Boutique Hotel as tucked away and low-key, since in the 12 years we've been in town we'd never heard of it until some friends recently stayed there. They gave it excellent reports so we checked it out: it's a lovely spot and we strongly recommend it if you're seeking a hotel in the midrange and you don't mind adding a tuk tuk ride to get yourselves into town.

Rainforest... what rainforest?

To get here, if you're going down Charoen Muang Road from the old town, take the first right after the railway station -- it's signposted -- and continue down the lane for 100 metres or so, and you'll find Rainforest. Now to go off on a  tangent slightly, we would query the name a bit, since not only is it a long time since this inner suburb of Chiang Mai has seen any kind of forest, but rainforest is not a flora type associated with North Thailand either ...

So anyway, this location, a five to 10-minute tuk tuk ride into town, does have the advantage of being an otherwise tourist-free area; if you step out of your hotel you're unlikely to run straight into a bunch of backpackers or a Saga tour group. They do have an evening free shuttle to the night bazaar, and songthaews and tuk-tuks are stationed outside with instructions not to charge more than 100 baht. You might have more problems convincing a downtown driver to take you back for the same rate, but you can always ask the hotel tuk tuk driver to collect you at a set time.

Reception area to left and rooms behind.

The hotel itself is quite a large affair, with more than 70 rooms, but it maintains a cosy, small-hotel ambiance. We reckon their out-of-the-way location means they're not snowed under like popular centre of town spots, and perhaps this is a reason for the relaxed, friendly staff and good value room rates.

The site is well laid out with an inviting pool, sitting area and small garden in the centre next to a spacious reception and room blocks leading off to the rear. A five-storey block has deluxe and superior rooms plus a wooden building across from the pool has more upmarket, all-wood "rainforest deluxe and luxury" options.

Pool area and "rainforest" rooms behind.

Rooms are simple, spotlessly clean and decorated with a discreet Lanna emphasis. Amenities-wise you'll find all you'd expect from a midrange hotel: air-con, hot shower, minibar, free tea and coffee, free WiFi and a decent buffet breakfast.

Low-key decoration.

Deluxe rooms are similar to superior but slightly larger, and the "rainforest" rooms with plenty of teak and even more space are a step up in quality -- and price. Our only criticism of the regular rooms would be the tiled floors, but that really is only nitpicking. All round, Rainforest is an excellent option and very good value for money.

The very pleasant garden and pool area.

The large airy restaurant overlooking the pool is a good place to sit, the food's decent and they don't assassinate you with their prices, so you don't have to travel into Chiang Mai proper every time you want to eat.

The restaurant.

Rates start at 900 baht for a superior room during low season (May to October) and 1,100 baht for high (November to April), through to a rainforest luxury room priced at 2,000/2,200 baht (low/high), including breakfast, tax and service.

Rainforest Boutique Hotel
23/1 Charoen Muang Rd Soi 5, Chiang Mai
T: (053) 309 081-2
F: (053) 309 080
sales@chiangmairainforest.com
www.chiangmairainforest.com

Tags: Lanna, rainforest, Rainforest Boutique Hotel

Nimmanhemin -- or Nimmanheminda -- Road and its surrounding sois form Chiang Mai's rapidly growing chic quarter of town, and indeed the whole area itself is now known as Nimmanhemin or commonly Nimman. Located on the west side of the city in Suthep district near the foot of the mountain, it was until some 20 years ago still just a dirt track on the outskirts of town, but has since seen a meteoric rise to trendiness. Nimmanhemin goes from the Rimcome junction with Huay Kaew Road to Suthep Road in the south, though most of the action is in the northern half of the road and the sois that lead off it. It's actually where the six-lane superhighway comes to an abrupt stop, so the road is unfortunately very busy traffic wise.

Commonly pronounced 'Nimman'.

Nearby Chiang Mai University (CMU), with its large student population, probably helped the area's growth but now it's also become a sought-after location for well-heeled locals and Thais fleeing hectic Bangkok, as well as Chiang Mai's large expat community. The kilometre or so of Nimmanhemin Road itself plus the sois to the east and west have become absolutely packed with coffee shops, tea houses, wine bars, sushi joints, live music restaurants, art and craft shops, trendy clothes stores and boutiques with silly names.

See what we mean?

In fact we wouldn't mind betting there are more cafes with free WiFi and blueberry cheesecakes per square kilometre here than almost anywhere else in Thailand, and we do wonder how the population supports quite so many -- though it has to be said that they do open and close with bewildering regularity, and what was last week a designer clothes shop is probably this week a specialty tea outlet.

'94 Coffee', Soi 9.

A Starbucks is on the corner of Soi 9 -- though we're pleased to see it often fares far worse than local coffee chains -- and an outlet of Chiang Mai's own Mike's Burger on the main drag. Other usual suspects are Black Canyon and local chains 94 Coffee and Wawi Coffee (both on Soi 9), plus the expat and increasingly upmarket Thai fave Kasem store.

Restaurants and bars abound; the most famous and a magnet for trendy tourists from Bangkok is the famous Monkey Pub in Soi 9, though you'll find many more in the same vein -- that vein being inside chic bar space, outside garden seating, live bands and big screen TVs for showing mainly EPL football matches. The bars and restaurants are predominantly aimed at rich young Thais and though you'll find a smattering of expats this area hasn't really caught on among tourists yet (though it's only a 10-minute/100 baht tuk tuk ride from, say, Tha Pae.)

Brightly coloured buildings on Nimmanhemin Road.

Restaurants include numerous Japanese, Thai, North Thai, Chinese and Italian joints , the latter including Lanta Pizza on Soi 5. There are also increasingly good evening street stalls along the main drag offering the usual array of Thai snacks. Apart from the action on Nimman itself, Sois 1 and 3 have plenty of handicraft shops and fashionable boutiques, while the restaurants and bars are concentrated in odd-numbered Sois 3 to 11.

All in all, this is a good spot to waste an evening browsing the boutiques, taking in some live music with a cold beer in hand and choosing from the myriad eateries to dine at -- or you could do a coffee-shop crawl in the afternoon, stuffing your face with mango meringue pie while checking your e-mails and browsing the stores in between.

The large monolithic red brick Chiang Mai Orchid Hotel next to Central Huay Kaew shopping mall might not look desperately exciting from the outside, but it's a good spot to waste away a few hours on a hot Chiang Mai afternoon if you've no pool in your own Chiang Mai hotel. The hotel itself is actually rather a good midrange deal,  but the main attraction for non-residents is their large, clean and almost always practically empty pool.

Busy day at the pool.

The open-air swimming pool is located on the third floor of the hotel, overlooking Huay Kaew Road, and while not exactly surrounded by a lush garden, it's pleasant enough.

Not the Andaman Coast but nevermind, eh!

Loungers beckon around the pool, a few pot plants lend a little green and if you're lucky there may even be drink and snack service -- but you most definitely won't get bombed by obnoxious brats, have to do exaggerated zig-zag lengths to avoid other swimmers or queue up to use the showers.

No 6:00 dash to spread your towel over a lounger required.

In addition to the pool, you can use a well-equipped gym, with staff on standby to provide assistance and both male and female saunas. The gym looks to have lots of impressive and complicated machines but we'll admit it's not our area of expertise, while the saunas are spacious and clean. You'll probably have the sauna to yourself and are never going to have to wait to use one of their torture apparatuses either.

With the palm trees you could almost be at the beach, right?

Staff are helpful, a little bit of English is spoken and towels and soap are provided. For non-guests it's 150 baht for unlimited time, and free for kids. (We're not quite sure how old the latter need to be to earn the free entry, but Thais usually go on height, so ask your kids to kneel down a little when you're paying the entrance fee.)

You pay your entrance fees in the downstairs lobby then take the lift to the third floor. The facilities are open all day, every day from 8:00ish in the morning to around 20:00. The Orchid is located on Huay Kaew Road immediately next to Central and below is a photo of the outside, just so you know you're at the right place. The rather ritzy lobby has an open-air beer garden attached, so you can re-hydrate after a sauna.

Orchid Hotel, Chiang Mai.

This isn't the cheapest pool in town but it's a good deal if you do have a few hours to while away, especially with kids in tow.

Tags: Central Department Store, gyms, Orchid Hotel, pools

We've covered the excellent Chiang Mai Aquarium and Nakorn Ping Aviary but haven't yet given you an overall rundown on the city's famous zoo; so, it's about time! Chiang Mai Zoo is situated at the foot of Doi Suthep, just behind Chiang Mai University, and covers a large area of secondary forest, foothills and stream valleys backing on to the national park itself. The natural forest setting certainly helps to elevate the zoo above regular city zoos such as Bangkok's Dusit Zoo or Regent's Park but yes, it is a zoo and not a safari park. (We are not including the notoriously badly run Chiang Mai "night safari".)

Going to the zoo, zoo ...

As zoos go, this is a pretty good one and it's definitely the best the kingdom has to offer. Most animals appear well looked after in spacious cages or fenced off areas and though  some enclosures, such as that for the monkeys, still leave a lot to be desired, the zoo is always upgrading and improving its facilities.

Not many zoos where the animals have their own restrooms!

Other than the aviary and aquarium a wide cross section of native fauna live at the zoo: elephants, tigers, crocodiles, bears and gibbons for starters, plus imported species such as koalas, giraffes, zebras and penguins.

Overdosed on eucalyptus leaves.

The zoo's star animals are undoubtedly the pandas, which are on a 10-year loan from China, and for which you have to pay extra to see. That's partly because they have to live in an air-con enclosure, which rumour has it even has occasional artificial snowstorms... which brings us on to the "snow dome", another popular attraction for Thais who've never seen snow before, and which also charges a separate entrance fee. The snow dome, of moderate interest to Westerners, is a kind of overgrown deep-freeze with a toboggan slope and igloo among its attractions.

Note these are models and not real.

Other non-animal viewing attractions in the zoo include go-carting, elephant rides, inflated plastic balls on the lake, a trained bird show and an "adventure railway" ride. The latter is so kitsch it's good, and involves a brief ride around a deer and goat enclosure with added plastic dinosaurs that move their heads when you pass and a giant King Kong that roars and flashes his red eyes. Even odder are the model Akha and Mabri exhibits.

Not real either but its eyes do light up when you go past.

The zoo is large and you've got three options for getting around: foot, monorail or bus. Most of the main sites can be included in a walking itinerary but be warned: it's a fair old walk and there are plenty of hills. Much of it is however in the shade and cafes and snack bars are liberally sprinkled around the site. Allow two to three hours to do a loop around the central area on foot.

You are here.

The monorail (stations marked on above map) does afford good views but will set you back 100 baht. We found it somewhat rickety and weren't completely at ease on it though maybe we're just particularly nervous. The buses can be slightly nerve-racking too, as they hurtle up and down steep hills and speed round corners, but at least they are on the ground and they only cost 20 baht. You need to buy a single ticket at the main entrance train or bus stop, and it allows you to get on and off as many times as you like around the course.

Kind of overgrown golf buggies.

This site has plenty more details. To get to the zoo by public transport, a 20 baht red songthaew ride will do it or you should be able to get a tuk tuk for 120 baht or so from downtown.

Chiang Mai Zoo
Top end of Huay Kaew Rd, just after the arboretum and immediately before the road starts to climb up Suthep (see map)
Open daily 8:00 to 17:00
www.chiangmaizoo.peam.biz
Admission fee to zoo: adults 100 baht, children 50 baht (unclear what age they consider children to be)
Extra for pandas: adults 100 baht and children 50 baht
Extra for snow dome: 150 baht
(The disgraceful two-tier pricing system is in place: be warned.)

Tags: aquarium, Chiang Mai zoo, King Kong, pandas, snow dome

A fraction of the size of Chiang Mai's more famous night bazaar, the mini version in downtown Chiang Rai is still a pleasant place for an evening stroll and an excellent option for snacks and a beer or dinner.

Entrance to the small night bazaar in Chiang Rai.

The offerings are similar, though much reduced in choice, to the Chiang Mai version: hill-tribe handicrafts, pirated DVDs, T-shirts, carved soap candles and so on -- though how many Hmong shoulder bags can one possibly need?

Same same, but not different.

What we do like at the Chiang Rai market and we feel make it a worthwhile evening destination are the excellent eating and drinking areas -- a nice alternative to Chiang Rai's other eating spots.

Crickets, beetles, worms or ants?

There are two adjacent sections, one comprised of nice wooden furniture and waitstaff wearing north Thai costumes, and another more aimed at locals with aluminium chairs and staff in jeans and T-shirts. The former has all the usual Thai and north Thai dishes and a very tasteful traditional Lanna dance show (though you may have to put up with a guitarist singing Hotel California between dances), while the latter has live Thai rock and country bands, cheap draught beer and lots of fried insects and snack food.

Beer snacks for sale

Both areas are reasonably priced and fun and personally we like to have a couple of pre-dinner drinks and snacks in the local area, move to the nearby "tourist" section for dinner then perhaps head back over the soi to catch a local band or game on the big screen TV.

North Thai traditional dance.

The night bazaar's open daily from dusk until midnight-ish, and is located off the main drag, Phaholyothin Road (see map).

Scratch my back and I'll scratch yours?

Tags: Hotel California, Lanna dance, markets

Doi means mountain in the northern Thai dialect (see our earlier geographical names post), so Doi Suthep of course means Suthep Mountain. Doi Suthep's most famous feature is its temple, Wat Doi Suthep, and is part of Doi Suthep-Pui National Park. Finally, Suthep is the name of the western district of Chiang Mai city abutting said mountain and home to CMU, Chiang Mai Zoo and the fashionable Nimmanhemin Road area.

Suthep seen from Huay Tung Tao.

We'll come to Suthep district in our Chiang Mai area by area posts, and the national park is a wide subject, so for this post we'll stick to the mountain itself. At around 1,600m in height, and being within walking distance of downtown, Suthep certainly towers over the city and though we would like to say it's clearly visible from wherever you are in Chiang Mai you'd better read our last post first!

Also usually clearly visible -- even at night as it's lit up -- is the temple just below the summit: Wat Doi Suthep or to give it its full name, Wat Phra Boromathat Doi Suthep Worawihan. Now if you hear people repeating the local saying that, "You haven't visited Chiang Mai unless you've visited Doi Suthep," they really mean unless you've gone up the mountain and had your photo taken in the temple with a view of the city in the background.

Chiang Mai city seen from Doi Suthep.

The temple is thought to date from the 14th century and is considered one of the most sacred sites in the region. It's certainly both an elaborate affair and spectacularly situated, as well as being hugely popular with local tourists. (You can find a good selection of photos of the temple at this link.)

From Chiang Mai Zoo at the foot of the mountain and at the end of Huay Kaew Road, a good road winds its way up Doi Suthep for 15 kilometres before reaching the car park and cafe area at the temple entrance. From here there's either 309 steps or a 30 baht tram fare to negotiate before you reach the temple proper. The road gets very steep so if you're going up there on a motorbike please take care!

Forest on the road up Doi Suthep.

On the way up Doi Suthep the road passes through dry dipterocarp, mixed deciduous and montane forest, emerging into pine once you reach Doi Pui, so it covers a wide range of flora and fauna and is particularly reputed for bird-life. There are also numerous viewpoints and several waterfalls, some more spectacular than others and all more picturesque during the rainy season. We've already posted a couple of waterfall hikes on Doi Suthep which you can find here.

Jungle trail on Suthep.

Note if you enter the national park headquarters or visit any of the more popular falls you will have to pay the 200 baht park entry fee -- if you just go to the temple you won't. The national park HQ buildings, botanical gardens and royal palace are all located above Wat Doi Suthep as the road continues to wind its way up to Doi Pui. It's all very scenic but again, take care here if you're on a motorbike -- the road gets even steeper and even experienced riders may have problems. Most guesthouses and travel agents can organise inexpensive tours to Doi Suthep and Doi Pui.

Tags: Chiang Mai zoo, Doi Pui, Doi Suthep-Pui National park, Nimmanhemin, Suthep